The House Renovation Saga

mood: accomplished

After months and months (well...years, really) of hard work and procrastination, our ensuite is finally finished! We officially commissioned the new ensuite yesterday evening, 10 February 2008. It looks great and I'm really pleased with all of it.

On to the pictures...

The original ensuite

Here are some photos of the original ensuite. Note how dark and dirty it looked.

The following picture is of the old shower recess. Notice how dirty the shower recess looked, despite repeat attempts at cleaning.

The following picture is of the old vanity unit - note the water damage.

One of the banes of my existence - the filthy tiny tiles that made up the floor of the old ensuite. They looked constantly dirty despite lots of cleaning.

The renovated ensuite

Here's the finished product! The first picture was taken looking into the new ensuite.

The following picture is of the new shower recess and feature tiles! I love our feature tiles

The next picture is of the sink area, including our new designer tap mixer we got from ebay.

What a difference! I love how much larger the bathroom looks and feel. I'm definitely loving how clean everything feels too :)

Some interesting information:

• We started the renovations on 23rd April 2006!
• It has taken nearly two years to complete the ensuite.
• Everything you see in the renovated ensuite is brand new, including the walls.
• Other new things include new shower rail, shower screen, shower head, cabinet mirror, downlight, tap handles, stainless steel power fittings, toilet, vanity unit.
• The cabinet mirror is partially recessed into the wall, creating a much bigger storage space.
• Check out the renovation photos on flickr.
• Read all posts associated with the renovation of this ensuite, including photos in some of the posts.

We're very pleased and happy with the ensuite. It was a pretty tough challenge as we've never done this kind of stuff before. There was lots of tears and frustration on my behalf although Alastair took to it like a duck to water. We learned a lot during the process, which will be handy for our next project - renovations of the main bathroom (yes, we're crazy enough to do this all again)!

Who said that the lead-up to Christmas is usually quieter? I've been busy at work helping out with proposals writing. On the home renovations front, things have all been happening!

Our mixer taps arrived on Wednesday. We've installed it and tested it. It works beautifully! I was initially concerned about the possibility of water spilling over the round glass plate but even at full blast of the tap, this didn't happen.

Once the mixer tap was in and tested, Alastair siliconed the edges of the vanity unit. It's was a nice neat job!

On top of that, we also installed the toilet roll holder and towel holders. We had fun doing mini usability tests for both fittings, making sure that we can reach both items comfortably (also keeping in mind, future users of these fittings). We ended up relocating the towel holder to the same wall as the toilet fitting. The original spot for the towel holder would have resulted in a very cramp spot if you needed to stand in front of the sink (which you'll need to do on a daily basis).

It's all looking very good and coming together nicely. Our next biggest thing is the installation of the shower screen, which I have some slight trepidation about. We're going to have a go at it tomorrow before our friend's Christmas get together. I hope it all goes well as I want this completed before we fly back to Perth!

Things left to do:

• Install drainage for vanity
• Silicon vanity edges
• Buy taps
• Install shower screen
• Do a overall clean of everything
• Reinstall downlight over sink
• Paint architraves (nearly completed - need to redo a small section of the door)
• Install dynabolts for toilet
• Install waterfall mixer taps

mood: busy

We're starting to push it for time. We're flying out to Perth next week and was hoping to get the ensuite completed before we left. I'm not sure whether we're going to make it. The biggest thing holding us up at the moment is the tap mixer. We've purchased two waterfall tap mixers in two separate ebay auctions, which we're waiting to arrive. They're similar to the ones pictured below.

Waterfall mixer tap

Waterfall mixer tap with running water

The problem is that we can't put in the shower screen until the tap mixers go in as we need the space to maneuver around the ensuite. The shower screen is going to be the last thing to install.

Things left to do in the ensuite:

• Install drainage for vanity
• Silicon vanity edges
• Buy taps
• Install shower screen
• Do a overall clean of everything
• Reinstall downlight over sink
• Paint architraves (nearly completed - need to redo a small section of the door)
• Install waterfall mixer taps

I've been away a few days this past week. While I was away, hubby was busily installing lovely new taps for the shower and finished installing the shower head. He also did the first coat of paint for the ensuite. I did the second today while he and the air con guy were installing the aircond into the living areas.

Unfortunately we can't finish the vanity unit as we're waiting upon a new mixer set to arrive!

This past weekend has seen us do more work on the ensuite. I regrouted one of the walls and Alastair repainted the ensuite ceiling.

We finally moved the toilet from the carport to the front yard so I could wash it down with the pressure water. You can see Alastair in the above shot about to lift the toilet that I had just cleaned. We installed the toilet, most of the vanity and the shower head.

Nearly completed ensuite

Things left to do for the ensuite:

• Install drainage for vanity (Alastair is currently working on this as I write this entry)
• Silicon vanity edges
• Buy taps
• Install shower screen
• Do a overall clean of everything
• Reinstall downlight over sink